A career military man, General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, 58, was appointed as commander of Egypt’s armed forces shortly after President Morsi swept to victory in the June 2012 elections. He replaced the stern Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who had become deeply unpopular as head of the interim military government that preceded Mr Morsi’s rule.Mr Sisi himself was criticised by human rights groups for defending so-called “virginity tests” carried out on female protesters arrested during the 2011 revolution, saying they were to “protect girls from rape as well as defend the army from possible allegations”. Initially, he was described as being broadly sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood’s aims. However, like most of Egypt’s military elite, he also sees himself a staunch nationalist and custodian of the nation, and when the uprising against Mr Morsi gathered pace in recent weeks, his loyalties proved ultimately with the protesters. So it was that on Wednesday, he took to the studios of state television to announce that Mr Morsi was no longer president. Mr Sisi, who has trained at military academies in both Britain and America, is also known for his close relationship with US military, which provides Egypt with nearly £1bn a year in funding. He is said to be keen to restore the Egyptian military’s reputation after the turmoil of the last two years - which, on the face of it, could augur well for a swift return to civilian rule.

The father-of-three, who was sworn in as Egypt’s caretaker head of state yesterday, was a long-serving judge under Hosni Mubarak, working in both Egypt’s civil and criminal courts. A scholarship graduate of France’s most prestigious institute of higher education, the Ecole Nationale de l’Administration, he also helped draft the laws for the presidential elections that brought Mr Morsi to power in 2012. Other than that, he has had little public profile. Many Egyptians say that until this week, he could have wandered through the crowds in Tahrir Square and not be recognised. Upon taking office yesterday, he praised the protests that had toppled Mr Morsi and said that Egypt had to stop producing tyrants”.

A colleague, Judge Hamid al-Jamal, describes Mr Mansour as “a quiet, calm” figure who makes “balanced decisions”. But while Egypt could probably do with a “Grey Man” as leader at the moment, the pressures of office will likely seem him attract some more colourful nicknames.

Mohamed ElBaradei

Age: 71

Role in crisis: tipped as possible interim prime minister

A law graduate and career diplomat, Mr ElBaradei is best known as the former head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, where he clashed with the US over the existence of suspected weapons programmes in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Fluent in English and French, he entered politics in Egypt during the latter years of President Hosni Mubarak’s rule, styling himself as an “agent of change and an advocate for democracy” . His liberal outlook and network of high-level contacts from his IAEA days has long seen him tipped as a possible future leader among secular, educated Egyptians, but in last year’s elections he chose not to run. The military is now said to view him as a potential future prime minister, after a collection of liberal and left-wing opposition groups said they would be happy for him to be their “voice”. Critics, though, detect an aloofness that comes with his intellect, and question whether he has quite the toughness for the political street fighting that undoubtedly lies ahead.

Ahmed Shafiq

Age: 71

Role in crisis: army favourite, possible victor in future presidential election

A former Air Force chief and aviation minister during Hosni Mubarak’s government, Mr Shafiq was the runner-up in last year’s presidential elections to Mr Morsi, taking 48.3 per cent of the vote in a second-round run-off. Days later, he went on the run to Dubai after Mr Morsi’s government pressed what he claims were politically-motivated corruption charges against him. With Mr Morsi now out of the way, he is widely expected to return to Cairo and Egyptian political life. A favoured candidate of the military because of his own forces’ background, he might either take a role in the interim government or triumph as an army-backed candidate in future presidential elections.

He is not popular, however, with Egypt’s young “Facebook Revolutionaries”, who see him as a “fulul”, or “remnant” of Mr Mubarak’s regime. When appointed as an interim prime minister during the early days of the 2011 protests, he famously lost his temper during a live television debate with an anti-Mubarak writer, in what was widely seen as a sign that Mubarak-era politicians could not handle criticism. A day later, he resigned.